Lightning News

Johnson, Namestnikov and Paquette all day-to-day

Three Lightning forwards left Thursday's game against the Wild, but all are day-to-day injuries

by
Bryan Burns
/ TampaBayLightning.com

The Tampa Bay Lightning lost three forwards to injury during their home contest against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

On Friday afternoon, Lightning associate coach Rick Bowness reported some good news. All three players are considered day-to-day with lower-body injuries.

"They all looked bad. Only time will tell. We'll see how that goes," Bowness said following Friday's practice at AMALIE Arena.

Bowness said it was unusual for three players to be injured in one game.

"Not three centermen go down like that.," Bowness said. "Sometimes you get banged out there and it's a stinger and it goes away after 10, 15 minutes, but that wasn't the case last night. That is very rare for that to happen."

Minutes later, Johnson sustained what appeared to be a knee-on-knee hit from Minnesota's Nino Niederreiter. He too laid face down on the ice before needing assistance from Stralman and Jake Dotchin to get off the ice.

The team announced that both sustained lower-body injuries and did not return to the game. Cedric Paquette was also shaken up in the third period before exiting to the dressing room.

The loss of the three players would be big blows for the Lightning's playoff hopes. Johnson ranks second on the Bolts with 19 goals and has 44 points currently, including an assist on Andrej Sustr's second period goal that put Tampa Bay ahead 3-0.

Namestnikov has recorded nine goals and 15 assists in 61 games this season.